Canada set for 2012 ePassport rollout

The long-awaited introduction of ePassports in Canada is set to take place before the end of 2012.

Passport Canada – the agency responsible for issuing Canadian Passports – has announced that biometric-based ePassports will be ready by the end of next year.

The electronic Passport programme was initially announced as part of the government’s National Security Policy in 2004 but the country has since had to repatriate overseas Passport printing to Canada and implement new facial recognition technology.

Passport Canada has been undertaking a pilot project since 2009, through which 40,000 diplomatic and special ePassports have been issued, with no difficulties reported.